Mistletoe Mishaps
by nalanna
Summary: The student council celebrate Christmas as pat of multi cultural month... however the mischievous vice president introuces mistletoe... read and review! For Socks!


**Okay, so this is the story that i have been promising Have Travel, since Christmas. (hence the entire Christmas theme) This is your christmas present! Just in time for Easter, my dear. **

**So I did the majority of it before Christmas... the got writers block around the time of christmas (all the food and wine and shizz...) and lost the impetus to write afterwards. Then had a burst of inspiration, then had no time... then I turned legal, and spent a lot of time in the pub.**

**So happy Christmas! sweatdrop**

It was looking festive in the student council meeting room at Kaibara High School: the miniature bonsai tree that Machi tended to was dotted with tiny silver bells and baubles; tinsel adorned every possible surface, including- to Nao's deep distress- the writing board; paper chains were festooned on the ceiling, whilst handmade paper snowflakes hung delicately in the spaces between.

All in all the student councillors had much to be proud of. Except for…

"This is stupid!" Nao fumed as he glared at an offending snowflake. "Why did you spend time doing this? What about all the work we have to do?"

"This _is_ work chibi-chan!" Simpered Kimi, a piece of tinsel tied in her hair. "In honour of multi-cultural month, we decided to pick a foreign celebration and celebrate it."

"We picked Christmas!" Kakeru piped up, as he was cutting out yet another paper snowflake. "And the best part is" -

- "You all have to buy Kimi presents!" squealed Kimi excitedly.

"Wha-?" Nao's mouth fell open as the other council members nodded in agreement. "Why should I?" Hoping and praying that someone- _anyone_- would put a stop to this madness.

"It's the rules," Kakeru replied. This was also followed by unanimous head nodding. He noted that as Kaeru and Kimi nodded down, Yuki and Machi nodded up. The effect was quite mesmerizing.

"However, it isn't just Kimi we have to buy for," Yuki added, in an attempt to clear up the situation. "At Christmas you give presents to the people you care about, and they in turn give you something. Of course", he smiled his wry smile, "there is more to it than that, but that is the basics of it all."

Nao sighed. Idiots… he was working with a bunch of idiots…

"Come on Chibi-suke, lighten up!" Kakeru opened up his snowflake and grinned. The intricate design looked as delicate as lace, as if a gust of wind could shred it to pieces…

Kakeru screwed it up into a ball and threw it at Nao's head. Nao ducked and the paper snowflake collided harmlessly with the wall.

"Stop fooling around!" Kakeru stood up and gave a lazy smile.

"Chibi-suke, come with me and I shall teach you the details of Christmas."

"I don't want to! You can't make me!" The vice-president rolled his eyes and grabbed hold of the secretary's elbow. As the former dragged the latter. He called behind him: "Kimi? You should come too, I need you to pick something up with me."

"Is it a present for Kimi?" She ran out of the room after her fellow council members.

Yuki swapped glances with Machi and chuckled. This "Christmas" was going to be interesting.

***

The next day, Kimi burst into the council room holding a cardboard box with windows cut into it. She thrust it forwards triumphantly and awaited her praise.

"What's that?" Nao reluctantly broke the silence when it seemed no one else was about to.

"This," she proclaimed, "is an advent calendar." She tossed back her head of dark curls, as if this was all the explanation they needed. She placed it on the table and smiled. "You should buy Kimi expensive presents for being so thoughtful!"

Yuki shook his head in confusion. "Kimi, what do we do with it?"

"Huh? You don't like it?" The brunette's eyes welled up. "Then Kimi had better take it back!"

"That's not what I said," gabbled the rat, attempting to backtrack to where he went wrong. "I mean, what is it for?"

"And Kimi thought she was being thoughtful…"

Machi suddenly stepped forward and tugged the calendar from the soliloquizing Kimi and turned to the stupefied males.

"Advent," she explained without expression, "is the period just before Christmas; each of these windows represents a day- you open it and eat the chocolate inside, one day at a time."

They stared at Machi, each one impersonating a goldfish. Kimi had barely noticed that her audience were no longer listening to her tales of hardship and self-sacrifice.

"And then Kimi got a boy to order one online for her because Kimi's internet had broken down… then she had no money so he had to pay for it himself…"

Kakeru took the calendar from Machi to inspect it. "So if we have to open a window a day, every day, for the run up to Christmas, then some of these should already be open."

"But how many?" Yuki leaned in closer to get a better look. "It's not as if we are actually celebrating Christmas, just going through the traditions…"

"Advent starts on the first of December," the treasurer informed them, "so if we say that this month is "December", and today is the 23rd, then we need to open twenty-three windows."

"But who will do the opening?" Nao wondered allowed.

Kimi suddenly stopped talking. She turned to her audience and gestured dramatically.

__

It's like Kabuki theatre all of sudden…

"Kimi should open _all_ of them, as it was Kimi's idea to bring it in."

Nao closed his eyes, as though he were in pain. Yuki pointed out that twenty-three chocolates was too much for one person, and maybe they should take it in turns to open a window? Kakeru settled for calling Kimi "fat".

Machi, as was her wont, said nothing.

*

" 'Twas the Night before Christmas, and through the house, nothing was stirring, not even... even a mouse?" Kakeru looked up quizzically from the poem he was busy translating. "Whose idea was it to try and translate this anyway?"

"Yours," came the unanimous reply.

"What?" He cried, jumping up from his desk, knocking a pot of pencil shavings onto the floor in the process- and addressing the room. "How could you be so cruel?" He pretended to wipe a tear away, before pulling a miraculous recovery.

"How could I forget?" He slapped his palm to his face in bewilderment, causing his fellow councillors to jump at the sound- they had completely tuned him out. Failing to notice this, he announced that he was leaving, then darted out of the room.

"Urgh, he gives me a headache…" muttered Nao, glaring at the pencil shavings sprinkled on the floor. "And I'm not clearing that mess up," he added blackly, before turning his attention back to his paperwork.

"Has Kakeru-chan gone to get my present?" Kimi whispered dramatically, to which everyone replied together, "No."

"We won't be swapping presents until the meeting tomorrow after school," Yuki explained wearily, for what felt like the hundredth time. "As indicated by the Advent Calendar." He pointed to where it hung on the wall, near to the decorated Bonsai tree. All but one window was opened, each displaying part of a man dressed in a red suit. Kakeru had assured them that this was St Nick, and if you weren't careful on Christmas morning, then he would come down the chimney and nick the presents.

Kimi had immediately grown fearful, and decided to take precautions against such a heinous event by stacking chairs in front of the door- just as Nao had attempted to come in. Kakeru then convinced her that Nao was in fact St Nick in disguise, and the resulting commotion was enough for them not to hear Yuki point out that they didn't have a chimney.

"But Kimi wants her presents now!" She moaned., "Kimi doesn't want to wait anymore…" She was interrupted by the re-arrival of Kakeru, who was carrying a small cardboard box. "Ta-daa!" He exclaimed, and bounded over to where Yuki and Machi were sat discussing the swimming team's budget.

"Oh president-san!" He wheedled, thrusting the box into Yuki's unsuspecting grasp. "I have obtained these wonderful plants- they are a _must_ at Christmas time."

"Eh?" Was all the Sohma boy could manage as he lifted out a green leafed, white berried plant cutting, which hung on a piece of white ribbon. Similar cuttings lay in the box, wrapped in tissue paper. Nao and Kimi moved closer for a better look, whilst Machi's already pale complexion paled even further, so that she was nearly s white as the berries on the-

- "Mistletoe." The vice president beamed. He took it from Yuki and hung it above his own head. "It's traditional that you stand underneath it and receive a kiss! So pucker up princess Yun-yun!"

The Rat blanched as he realised the implications of Kakeru's words. He became very aware of Machi's quiet presence next to him, but he couldn't bring himself to look at her… not for all the presents at Christmas.

"So Kimi has to stand underneath this, and all of the boys have to kiss her?" Kakeru nodded at her as he made to hang the mistletoe from the ceiling.

"Give a piece to Kimi…" she whined. Nao looked at her in horror.

"Don't do it!" He begged, as Kakeru made to give her a piece. "Please, for the sake of all male kind-"

- "Too late…" Said Yuki weakly, as Kimi snatched the cutting from Kakeru's rapidly retreating hand.

She smiled happily before rushing out of the room, her prize possession held close to her chest.

"No one is safe…" moaned Nao into his hands, "No one…"

Yuki turned to Kakeru with a look in his eye that clearly said: "I'm pissed off, and you know it, so _explain._"

"What possessed you, exactly?" He asked politely, his face displaying no signs that he had noticed the ominous silence emanating from Machi, like heat from a volcano.

"What do you mean Yun-yun?" Replied the vice-president innocently, but with a grin that suggested otherwise.

"The mistletoe?" The Rat gestured helplessly at the thing of terror dangling from the ceiling. "Why?"

Kakeru winked. "Ahh Yun-yun, you are so naive…"

*

"Presents! Kimi wants her presents now. Can she have them yet?"

"YES!!!" Shouted the other councillors, as they swapped brightly wrapped packages with each other. Kimi squealed happily as she ripped into her own packages, whilst the other watched in astonishment. They had all bought her the same thing…

"Four hairbrushes for Kimi!" She smiled and waved them under the noses of her friends. "This means I can have one in my bag, and one in my other bag, and one at home…" The others felt the need to apologise, but as she was so very happy with her gifts, they left her to it.

"At least they are different colours," whispered Yuki to Machi as Kimi babbled on about where she was going to keep them. Machi smiled, glanced at the ceiling and then flinched back; hanging above them like a double edged sword was the ever present mistletoe. Kakeru had insisted that they sit underneath it, as this was how Christmas was celebrated in the west. Yuki highly doubted this, but Kakeru would not give in.

Yuki pretended he didn't see Machi's reaction and turned his attention to his own gifts. His present from Nao was surprisingly good, when he considered the fact that Nao saw him as his arch enemy; a brushed metal mechanical pencil, and matching fountain pen set. Nao curtly nodded his "you are welcomes"- he was clearly uncomfortable with the whole situation.

Kimi, surprisingly, didn't forget that Christmas was a two-way thing, and had bought everybody plush figures from the anime, Mogeta. At this rate, Machi was going to have the biggest Mogeta collection in Japan…

Kakeru, needless to say, got everyone…things. Just things….

After they had swapped gifts with each other, and said all of the necessary "thank you's" and "you're welcome's", the student councillors felt a little lost. They had waited an entire month for this moment, and somehow, now it had ended, they felt…_sad._

"What should we do now?" Kimi asked, looking around the room morosely.

"I don't know…" Yuki replied. "Surely there is more to it than this…?" His question trailed off in to a hopeful silence.

Machi had been looking around at her friends with a thoughtful look on her face. She knew there was more to Christmas, but some of it was a bit beyond their means. However, _some_ of it could be done.

"We could play a game." She said quietly, hoping that she wasn't heard. Unfortunately for her, Kakeru was a sharp as a razor and leaped on her idea with gusto.

"YES! He shouted, and began to organize them into two teams- which wasn't the idea at all, but, at least everyone had stopped looking so damn miserable.

At least, that was what Machi thought…

***

"Well… that was _interesting…_" Yuki concluded at the end of the day. Only Machi was around to hear him, as the other council members had not long gone home.

"They enjoyed themselves at least," Machi replied, picking up polystyrene balls; it felt very strange to her to be clearing up, and not _making _the mess.

"Why do I feel like the care worn parent of three toddlers?" Yuki muttered as he helped her with the tidying up. Machi threw him a sympathetic look, and dumped some of the polystyrene on a table top… well, she was at least _picking stuff up_, right? No need to push things too far by actually putting anything in the bin…

"I mean, how on Earth did charades mutate into a fake snowball fight?" He asked, incredulity wrought all over his face. "It just…_exploded…_" He shook his head in wonder, half amused, half bemused. Machi watched him as he dragged out a hoover from the store cupboard; she drew the line at vacuuming…

As the silver haired youth cleared the floor faster than they could have done by hand, Machi felt the presence of the offending mistletoe behind her. At least they could take down those infuriatingly tempting berries down now.

Yuki knew that asking Machi to straighten the desks was a bit much- she had excelled herself with picking up that handful of polystyrene…

Of course, now that "Christmas" was over, he felt a little sad. He had filled out the reports, relating the experience for readers of the newsletter- it seemed that the student council were the only ones who actually did anything for multi-cultural month. Unsurprisingly.

The others had left him to clear the council room of the decorations, which was also unsurprising. Taking the tinsel down from the whiteboard was oddly depressing for him… at least those infuriatingly tempting berries could be removed now-

-CRASH!

Yuki spun around from the whiteboard to face the source of the noise. Machi was spread-eagled on the floor, her limbs tangled with those of the chair she had just slipped from. Yuki was at her side in an instant, but hesitated when he got there. The rescue process would require some planning.

"Machi? Are you ok? Are you hurt?" He fired as he untangled her leg from the back of the chair.

"Mmm?" She groaned, pulling her ankle from his gentle grip. Noticing this, he realised that going for her legs had probably looked indecent, A faint blush spread over his face as he sprang backwards and held out his hand.

"Th-thanks." She mumbled, and took his proffered hand. As soon as she was standing upright, she dropped his grasp like a hot iron. Yuki raised an eyebrow, not that she noticed, as she was staring fixedly at the floor.

"What were you doing on the chair anyway?" He asked quietly. Was it his imagination, or was she _blushing_?

"I thought I would… err…" She cleared her throat nervously. "Err, I wanted to make a start on taking the…err… th-the…err…mistletoe down." She gestured helpless above her, to the smug presence of the plant. It surely was more trouble than it was worth…

"Oh, I see." The President replied, thinking that the plants were more trouble that they were worth. "Well, please leave that to me, Machi. You might slip again, and I don't want you to hurt yourself."

"Mmmhmm…"

They stood awkwardly, both desperate to move, but drawn to the spot underneath the white berries. They avoided looking at each other by staring at each other's shoes.

The minutes ticked by, and still neither of them made a move in any direction. The light outside the window slowly changed…

"This is getting silly!" Machi thought desperately. "We'll be here forever…"

The brown haired girl snapped her head up to stare the silver haired boy in the eyes. Yuki gazed back, his pulse rate quickening to an impossibly fast tempo.

"It is traditional," Machi began in a whisper, her own heart beating so hard it was about to leap out of her chest, "that when two people stand under the plant commonly known as mistletoe…" She took a tentative step forward, and her breath caught in her lungs.

As soon as Yuki saw her move he wrapped his hands around her elbows, not pushing her away, but stopping her before she got too close and he transformed. He examined her expression closely; he hoped that she didn't take his move the wrong way.

"When two people stand under the mistletoe," he continued quietly, his hands wandering slowly up her arms, until he could grip her shoulders. He traced his fingers lightly up and down her neck. "They are supposed to kiss…"

Machi nodded, too much in love to move or to make a sound.

Yuki let out a breath in what would have been a snort, had it not been a silent noise, and had he not been Yuki. His face took on a soft expression, his eyes melting the very core of Machi's heart. He leaned in slowly, his hands placed firmly on her shoulders to stop her moving closer, but also to stop her from pulling away.

Slowly, so slowly it was impossible to see if they moved at all, their lips brushed against each other. Electricity shot through Yuki's body and he wrapped his arms around Machi completely, pulling her as close to him as he could allow. The thrill of near transformation added a dizzying sense of danger.

Machi was alarmed by the violence of Yuki's reaction, but she soon got over that. Being so close to him was just too important to think about other things for too long…

When the eventually pulled apart, the light had nearly completely faded from the room. They looked around in bewilderment, their arms still around each other, a imperceptible gap between their bodies.

"Well…" Yuki cleared his throat, embarrassed now that they had stopped, and Machi was _looking_ at him.

The brunette gave a small smile. "The tidying up can wait…"

* * *

Okies, so that is a very random and erratcic update from me. Hapy Christmas my transatlantic twin!!

xox

Yuki thought_._


End file.
